Pivoting face guard assembly



Sept. 27, 1966 'r. J. SOWLE 3,274,613

PIVOTING FACE GUARD ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 5, 1964 INVENTOR. 71/50 .1 San LE mzw United States Patent 3,274,613 PIVOTING FACE GUARD ASSEMBLY Theo J. Sowle, 2525 Martin Ave., Grand Rapids 7, Mich. Filed Feb. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 342,201 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-9) This invention relates to protective athletic head gear and, in particular, to face guards attached to athletic helmets.

Hitherto, athletic helmets have been equipped with approximately U-shaped face guards having forward or central portions constructed and arranged to protect the nose, mouth, teeth and jaw of the athlete and also having side arms which not only partially protect the athlete's cheek bones but also serve as attachment portions by which the face guard is connected to the helmet. While lacing has been frequently used for attaching the side arms to the side walls of the helmet, such means of attachment requires the drilling of multiple holes in the helmet and also the threading of the lacing through the holes in the side arms and helmet, requiring the expenditure of considerably more time and skill than if threaded fasteners were employed.

Heretofore, however, the use of ordinary threaded fasteners for attaching the side arms to the helmet have been unsatisfactory because of their tendency to either tighten up and prevent free pivoting of the face guard upon the helmet or to loosen and fall out under conditions of intensive use. The loss of such a fastener causes the side arm previously attached by the fastener to become detached from the helmet and thereby render the entire headgear not only temporarily useless but actually a detriment because of the dangling of the face guard from the side arm remaining connected to the helmet. The present invention eliminates these disadvantages by providing a threaded fastening element which neither loosens or tightens up but maintains free pivoting.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a face guard with a connection which when once secured in position, retains its adjustment without either substantially tightening or loosening and maintains free pivoting of the face guard upon the helmet regardless of how intensive the conditions of use become.

Another object is to provide a face guard with a connection of the foregoing character which is quickly and easily installed with a minimum of labor and without the necessity for more than the ordinary amount of skill.

Another object is to provide a face guard with a connection of the foregoing character wherein the connection not only prevents the components thereof from coming apart during installation or adjustment, but also accommodates itself to any irregularities arising betweenthe helmet and face guard as well as providing shock-absorbing characteristics.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description of the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of an athletic helmet provided with a face guard and connection according to one form of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an approximately horizontal, slightly inclined section, upon an enlarged scale, taken along the line 2-2 in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view of the aligned separated components of the pivoting connecting device shown in FIGURES l and 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, FIGURE 1 shows a face guard, generally designated 10, attached to an athletic helmet, generally designated 12, by a pivoting connecting device, generally designated 14, according to one form of the invention with or without the usual chin strap (not shown). The helmet 12 has top, front and side portions 3 ,Z74,613 Patented Sept. 27, 1966 16, 18 and 20 respectively, the side portions or side walls 20 extending downward on opposite sides of the players head past his cheek bones and jaw bones. The details of the helmet 12 are conventional and beyond the scope of the present invention.

The face guard 10 has an approximately U-shaped main portion 22 with upwardly and rearwardly-extending side arms 24 and with upper, lower and forward protective members 26, 28 and 30 respectively. The approximately vertical members 30, of which only one is shown, are spaced apart from one another for the insertion or withdrawal of a mouthpiece (not shown) and are connected to one another at their lower ends by a cupped jaw-protecting portion 32 to the inner side of which is cemented or otherwise secured a cushion pad 34 of elastic deformable material, such as foam rubber or a resilient synthetic rubber or synthetic plastic. The upper portion 26 serves as a bridge portion interconnecting the side arms 24 on their upper sides and also interconnects the upper ends of the vertical members 30. The rearward end portions 36 of the side arms 24 are preferably provided with multiple holes 38 in order to give a range of adjustments of the face guard 10 to a given helmet 12, so that the same face guard 10 and helmet 12 may be adjusted to fit different players having a variety of different facial dimensions and characteristics.

The side portions or side walls 20 of the helmet 12 are drilled with a pair of aligned holes 40 as described below in connection with the installation of the invention, for the reception of a pair of outwardly-facing tubular nuts, generally designated'42, which constitute the innermost components of the pivoting connecting devices 14. The internally-threaded tubular shanks 44 of the nuts 42 have threaded bores 45 and extend outwardly through the holes 40 in the helmet side wall 20 with the corners 47 of their lightly convexo-concave square heads 46 engaging the inner surface 48 of the side wall 20 (FIGURE 2). A resilient washer 50 of elastic deformable material, such as rubber or synthetic rubber, is mounted upon the tubular shank 44 against the outer surface 52 of the side wall 20. A flanged spacing sleeve 54 is mounted upon the tubular shank 44 with its tubular shank 56 telescopingly engaging the tubular shank 44 and with its annular flange 58 abutting the resilient washer 50. A look washer 60 is mounted at the outer end of the tubular shank of the flanged sleeve 54 with its internal teeth 62 engaging the threaded shank 64 of a screw 66, the head 68 of which engages and urges the lock washer 62 against the outer end of the tubular shank 56 of the flanged spacing sleeve 54. The tubular shank 56 of the flanged spacing sleeve 54 passes through one of the holes 38 in the particular side arm 24 and the threaded shank 64 of the screw 66 is threaded through the lock washer 60 into the internally-threaded shank 44 of the tubular nut 42.

In the installation of the face guard 10 upon the helmet 12 by the fastening devices 14, a suitably sized hole is drilled at 40 in each helmet side wall 20 with the holes in alignment with one another, in the most convenient position for the average player, reliance being made upon the multiple holes 38 to provide suflicient adjustment to fit the head of the individual player. The tubular nuts 42 are then inserted from inside the helmet with their shanks 44 projecting outwardly therefrom, and are then held temporarily in place by pushing the rubber washers 50 over the shanks 44 against the helmet side walls 20. The spacer sleeves 54 are then slipped over the tubular shanks 44 of the tubular nuts 42 against the resilient washers 50. The helmet 12 is then placed upon the wearers head with its forward portion 18 as close as possible to the brow line without interfering with vision.

The face guard 10 is then applied to the wearer's face with the chin pad 34 seated firmly on the wearers chin and with the side arms 24 extending upwardly and rearwardly toward the thus-assembled connecting device components 42, 50 and 54. The nearest holes 38 in the side arms 24 to the shanks 56 of the spacing sleeves 54 are then slid over the shanks 56. The lock washers 60 are then placed on the shanks 64 of the screws 66 and the threaded shanks 64 inserted through the tubular shanks 56 of the spacing sleeves 54 into the threaded bores 45 of the tubular nuts 42. By means of an ordinary screw driver, the screws 66 are then firmly tightened firmly against the lock Washers 60 and spacer sleeve 54, pulling the corners 47 of the heads 46 of the tubular nuts 42 firmly against the helmet side walls 20 and thereby locking the face guard to the helmet 12 while permitting free pivoting of the former relatively to the latter.

The head gear 8, consisting of the assembly of the face guard 10 and helmet 12 is used in play or action in the ordinary manner and therefore requires no special description. At any time he so desires, the player can raise the face guard 10 by swinging its front portion 22 upward around the pivot connecting devices 14, which insure such free pivotal action while preventing either tightening or loosening. If the helmet is subsequently used by another player with different facial characteristics, the side arms 24 of the face guard 10 may be detached from the connecting devices 14 and reattached by using a more conveniently located hole 38 adapted to the particular facial characteristics of the player, by reversing the foregoing procedure.

What I claim is:

1. A pivoting face guard assembly for mounting in aligned holes in the opposite side walls of a protective helmet, said assembly comprising an approximately U-shaped face guard having a central face-protecting portion disposed forwardly thereof and having opposite laterally-spaced side arms extending rearwardly from the opposite ends of said central portion,

said side arms near their rearward ends having a pair of aligned holes therethrough adapted to be aligned with the aligned holes in the helmet side walls; and a pair of pivotal face guard connectors,

one face guard connector being mounted in each of said pair of aligned side arm holes: each pivotal connector including a headed threaded inner fastener having a tubular internally-threaded shank adapted to be inserted through and extend outwardly from one of the aligned helmet side Wall holes and having means thereon adapted to engage the helmet side wall in rotationpreventing relationship therewith,

a tubular'spacer disposed in one of said face guard side arm holes in telescoped relationship with said inner fastener and having an axial length substantially equal to the thickness of its respective face guard arm,

and a headed threaded outer fastener having an externally-threaded shank extending through said spacer into threaded engagement with said inner fastener and with its head having an abutting connection with said spacer.

2. A pivoting face guard assembly, according to claim 1, wherein the'abutting connection of the head of said outer fastener with said spacer including an outer washer is disposed between the outer end of said spacer and the head of said outer fastener.

3. A pivoting face guard assembly, according to claim 1, wherein said spacer has a flange on its inner end and wherein a resilient inner washer is mounted on said inner fastener between said flangev and the head of said inner fastener and is adapted to egage the adjacent side wall of the helmet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,272,833 2/ 1942 Dockson 28 2,985,883 5/1961 Marietta 29 3,079,609 3/ 1963 Hoifmaster 28 3,106,716 10/1963 Beebe 29 JORDAN FMNKLIN, Primary Examiner. J. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A PIVOTING FACE GUARD ASSEMBLY FOR MOUNTING IN ALIGNED HOLES IN THE OPPOSITE SIDE WALLS OF A PROTECTIVE HELMET, SAID ASSEMLBY COMPRISING AN APPROXIMATELY U-SHPAED FACE GUARD HAVING A CENTRAL FACE-PROTECTING PORTION DISPOSED FORWARDLY THEREOF AND HAVING OPPOSITE LATERALLY-SPACED SIDE ARMS EXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID CENTRAL PORTION, SAID SIDE ARMS NEAR THEIR REARWARD ENDS HAVING A PAIR OF ALIGNED HOLES THERETHROUGH ADAPTED TO BE ALIGNED WITH THE ALIGNED HOLES IN THE HELMET SIDE WALLS; AND A PAIR OF PIVOTAL FACE GUARD CONNECTORS, ONE FACE GUARD CONNECTOR BEING MOUNTED IN EACH OF SAID PAIR OF ALIGNED SIDE ARM HOLES; EACH PIVOTAL CONNECTOR INCLUDING A HEADED THREADED INNER FASTENER HAVING A TUBULAR INTERNALLY-THREADED SHANK ADAPTED TO BE INSERTED THROUGH AND EXTEND OUTWARDLY FROM ONE OF THE ALIGNED HELMET SIDE WALL HOLES AND HAVING MEANS THEREON ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE HELMET SIDE WALL IN ROTATIONPREVENTING RELATIONSHIP THEREWITH, A TUBULAR SPACER DISPOSED IN ONE OF SAID FACE GUARD SIDE ARM HOLES IN TELESCOPED RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID INNER FASTENER AND HAVING AN AXIAL LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE THICKNESS OF ITS RESPECTIVE FACE GUARD ARM, AND A HEADED THREADED OUTER FASTENER HAVING AN EXTERNALLY-THREADED SHANK EXTENDING THROUGH SAID SPACER INTO THREADED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID INNER FASTENER AND WITH ITS HEAD HAVING AN ABUTTING CONNECTION WITH SAID SPACER. 